About 63.65% of the population (about 53,122 in 2023) live in the district of Sangkapura, centred on the town of that name located on the southern coast of the island.

The island's name is believed to originate from the Kawi (or Sanskrit) phrase ba (light) we (the sun) an (is) – thus: "having the sunlight".

So whereas the nominal female population percentage amounted to about 52% in 2009, the actual fraction (corrected for residents abroad) approximated 77%.

[5][6] The name Bawean means "sunlight exists" in Sanskrit and was encountered by shipwrecked sailors in the 14th century, in reference to their excitement upon seeing clear skies after enduring fierce storms at sea.

Mass conversion of islanders to Islam began after the death in 1601 of the local Raja Bebileono who favored animism and the arrival from Java of the Muslim theologian Sheik Maulana Umar Mas'ud.

[16][15] His dynasty became independent from the Javanese States, and his great-great-grandson Purbonegoro, who ruled the island between 1720 and 1747 visited Java as a sovereign ruler.

[17] The graves of Maulana and Purbonegoro are revered on the island, they are visited by Muslim pilgrims from other parts of Indonesia and are the main historical attractions of Bawean.

[19] In the 17–18th centuries, the island was regularly visited by ships of the Dutch East India Company, which was strengthening its position in this part of the Malayan archipelago, and in 1743 officially came under its control.

[13][20] After the bankruptcy and liquidation of the East India Company in 1798, Bawean and all its other possessions came under the direct control of the Netherlands Crown.

Whereas the island was governed by an appointed Dutch official,[14] native nobility retained certain influence, and the Muslim institutions of justice settled local court matters.

[16] From the end of 19th century, men of the island began to regularly travel to work in the British colonial possessions in the Malay Peninsula, especially in Singapore.

[6] The Dutch authorities didn't interfere with the activities of foreign recruiters who visited the island, as Bawean, with about 30,000 people and 66 settlements was overpopulated.

[6][14] The island was then producing tobacco, Indigo, cotton fabrics and coal, and exported the Bawean deer and local breed of horse.

[21] During World War II, large-scale battles between the Japanese and Allied navies occurred in the vicinity of Bawean island, especially during the Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942.

On 28 February, in the first Battle of the Java Sea, the Japanese sunk several Allied ships, killing the commander of the East Indies Fleet, Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, on the light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter.

It resulted in sinking of all the participating Allied ships, including the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and effective termination of the Anglo-Dutch resistance in the region.

[3][28] There are several small rivers and waterfalls, the highest being Laccar and Patar Selamat, as well as hot springs such as Kebun Daya and Taubat.

At altitudes of 10–30 meters above sea level, older alluvial accretions show up as horizontal layers of brown clay, and the higher areas are dominated by red-brown laterite.

[3][29] The local jungles are characterized by dense low understory growth, with a predominance of ferns, bryophytes and orchids.

[3][29] Mangrove bushes occur in some coastal areas on the island, with the main species being Sonneratia alba, Rhizophora mucronata, Bruguiera cylindrica and Lumnitzera racemosa.

[21] In 1979, two national (Indonesian) nature reserves were created, with areas of 3,832 and 725 hectares (9,470 and 1,790 acres), primarily to protect the density of forests, the main habitat of the Bawean deer.

The main source of income for the majority of the Bawean population is money earned by relatives working abroad.

[42] The main port of the island, Sangkapura, is connected with the settlements of northern coast of East Java and Madura.

Governments – both local and of Gresik – are attempting to appeal Bawean for tourists by advertising local natural attractions, which include the Lake Kastoba, hot springs Kebundaya and Taubat, waterfalls Lachchar and Patar Selamat, the caves in the central part of the island, sandy beaches and coral reefs on the coast.

They were gradually mixed with traders, fishermen and pirates of Bugis and Malayan ethnicities coming from other parts of the Malay Archipelago.

[5] The largest migrations from the island occurred in the later 1940s – early 1950s, during the formation of Indonesia as an independent state and the associated political instability and economic difficulties.

[5] Most Baweans living abroad keep close ties with their relatives on the island, regularly visit them, and often return after several years of absence.

[6] There are generations of recruitment agents in Singapore and Malaysia specializing on employment of Baweans, mainly as construction workers and sailors.

So a poll in the 2008–2009 revealed that only 55% of the locals justified the departure by economic reasons, while 35% associated it with the traditions or a desire to gain life experience.

The traditional local pie stuffed with vegetables (usually potatoes) is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore under the name Indonesian: roti Boyan (Bawean bread).